Bathing young children and babies who are not capable of supporting themselves can be challenging. One can bath with the baby and hold the baby in one's lap, or one can lean over the tub side and hold the baby with one hand while soaping and rinsing with the other, which can be difficult because constant support is required to keep the baby or young child safe.
Support devices that seat the child or baby have been developed to make bathing such young persons safer and to permit the bath giver use of both arms and hands during the bathing process. U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,606 issued Apr. 30, 1991 (Bernstein et al.) discloses one such device and discusses a number of others. The device disclosed in the '606 patent has a seat base that is secured to the tub bottom by means of suction cups, a generally circular frame which rotates on the base and is formed with a seat back and arms that extend and meet in the front of the device, and a series of support posts that position the frame above the seat base and provide open areas through which the child's legs can extend. U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,433 issued Nov. 18, 1997 (Garner et al.) discloses a similarly constructed device that has a removable tray and a strut that extends between the suction cupped base and the tray to support the tray and to prevent a child from slipping under the tray. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,314,592 and 6,457,190 issued Nov. 13, 2001 and Oct. 1, 2002 respectively (Stein) disclose a bath seat having a base and a frame that forms a generally triangular aperture with a plurality of support members extending between the base and the frame. The triangular aperture is said to provide a limit on the child's range of motion while still allowing the child to be easily seated. Suction cups are either affixed to the bottom of the base or attached to flexible nylon tether lines that are removably connected to a support member by a clip. U.S. Pat. No. 8,151,383 issued Apr. 10, 2012 (Feener) discloses a baby bath seat with a seat mounting bracket configured to be mounted on a rim of a bath tub. United States Patent Publication No. 2014/0182057 discloses a bath seat having a suction cupped base and an inflatable superstructure composed of a seat back, and a ring supported by inflatable struts. UK Patent Application GB 2 455 616 A discloses a removable, adjustable and lockable bath platform for an adult having a pair of suction cups engageable with the sides of the bath for holding the seat in place. UK Patent GB2476939 B discloses a bath seat for an adult having suction cups on its lower surface and extendable stabilizing members that engage the sides of a bath tub. UK Patent GB 2463324 B discloses a specific kind of suction cup usable with a bath seat that allows for easy removal and replacement.
Some of the bath seats for young children and babies that have bases with suction cups on the bottom, back and arm supports and trays with supporting struts have been recalled due to drowning hazards because the weight of the child can cause the device to tip over despite the suction cupped bottom. For this reason, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) approved a new federal safety standard for infant bath seats. The new federal requirements for infant bath seats in ASTM F1967-13 add stricter stability requirements to prevent the bath seat from tipping over and tighter leg opening requirements to prevent children from slipping through the leg openings, among other things. The federal standard incorporates current voluntary standard provisions requiring latching and locking mechanisms, and compliance with CPSC's standards for sharp points and edges, small parts, and lead in paint.
Consequently, there is a need for a bath seat capable of meeting these stricter standards. This invention is intended to meet that need.